Building your Business and a Backyard Deck ... Instead of the Kingdom

Gary DeMar holds forth in WANTED! Men to Build the Kingdom ...

"For the most part Christians have forsaken the belief that God’s Word is the standard for righteousness in the areas of economics, education, politics, and the judicial system. Instead, much of the church has adopted a form of eschatological escapism (“We’re living in the last days; Jesus’ coming is just around the corner, etc.”) and a form of ethical pluralism (the Bible is only one law among many from which to choose).

Ethical pluralism means that all moral views are valid except any moral view that does not believe that all moral views are valid. This means that Christianity, as the Bible conceives of it, is not an acceptable ethical standard on how the world should work. If, as a Christian, you advocate that the Bible has something very fundamental to say about every area of life, then the world is at war with you.

With pluralism you get an “anything goes” ethic. Since most Americans (and most Christians) believe that ethical pluralism is legitimate, they often remain silent in the midst of the storm of moral anarchy that is battering our nation. They have been propagandized into believing that this is the American way. Pastors reinforce this belief.

The failure is the failure of Christian leaders to preach, teach, and exhort that the public arena is a place of ministry and that God’s law has application there. Christians have failed to be advocates of righteousness in areas beyond personal and familial piety. There has been a steady erosion among evangelicals and fundamentalists over the adoption of a comprehensive biblical worldview. This takes risk-taking, adventurous, and inventive men out of the picture. They would help build the kingdom if they only heard messages that said it was their job to do it. Instead, they build their business and a backyard deck. “Our nation was founded on the belief that religious man undergirds and builds society. In the last resort, our civilization is what we think and believe. The externals matter, but they cannot stand if the inner convictions which originally produced them have vanished.”"